Blizzard launched Patch 2.7 for Diablo II: Resurrected just in time before Ladder Season 4 starts tomorrow, May 4 at 8 p.m. EST. This update is important because it made a huge change to the Next Hit Delay system.
For the uninitiated, the Next Hit Delay (NHD) system is a mechanic in Diablo II: Resurrected that prevents a missile from colliding/damaging a player or monster if they're already affected by another missile. This keeps certain skills like Multiple Shot, Strafe, and Chain Lightning from damaging enemies until an internal NHD timer has elapsed.
That said, Blizzard implemented a significant change in Patch 2.7 where the NHD system now only applies to missiles created by casting the same skill. For example, if two players cast Chain Lightning in quick succession, the first one damages the target while the second one just passes through, and therefore, does not deal damage. This is big because players can continually damage the target just by casting two different skills.
According to the company, the change to NHD was made to alleviate some headaches in multiplayer and to smooth the edges of certain character builds, all while maintaining its original design goals.
Changelog
GAMEPLAY
- Knockback has been removed from the Bul Kathos' Sacred Charge 2-Handed Sword.
- Druids are now able to shapeshift directly between their Werewolf and Werebear forms.
- The Assassin's trap skills now benefit from +% To Elemental Skill Damage modifiers.
- Fixed an issue where Mephisto would drop from lower-level treasure classes when Terrorized.
- Fixed an issue where an Assassin dying with Martial Arts charges active could cause a crash in Offline play.
- Fixed the issue where the Assassin's traps weren't benefiting from resistance reduction in Offline play.
GENERAL
- Fixed a translation issue for the Reached max character limit text in Polish.
- Fixed an issue where progressing between towns and connected zones from Acts II, III, and V would cause an abrupt lighting change when terrorized.
- Fixed an issue where the icon to denote a monster is Terrorized wasn't properly displaying in certain languages.
- Fixed an issue where the Amazon's audio cue for dodging an attack would play when non-Amazon characters used the Evade skill granted by the Hustle Rune Word.
- Amended various stability issues encountered during Online play.
LADDER PLAY
- Fixed an issue where messaging for the next Ladder Season was inaccurate during the pause between seasons.
- Fixed an issue where characters that were recently converted from Ladder to Non-Ladder would not display as such and failed to join games.
- Fixed an issue where Rune Words exclusive to an upcoming Ladder Season could be created in the current season.
- Fixed an issue where converted Ladder characters would be incorrectly displayed with the Ladder flag.
So, what can you say about the newly revised Next Hit Delay system in Diablo II: Resurrected Patch 2.7?
